Kent's Viewfinder: October 2021

The bucket list is getting kind of short. Consequently we’re sometimes revisiting places.

Years ago we visited Moab. It was brutally hot even though it was early in June. But this trip was different. My wife wanted to participate in an event near Salt Lake City, I wanted to be a spectator at the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival, the timing of the two events was very close together, we decided to combine the events into a single vacation with a stay in Moab during the trip. So I got a second chance at Moab.

Last time, we visited Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Dead Horse Point State Park. We repeated those visits this time, but the weather was overcast and rainy. I have no new/improved shots of those places.

Except, I did make the climb to Delicate Arch at sunset. I got about a minute of wonderful light on the arch.

Delicate Arch at Sunset

During that first trip to Moab, we didn’t have a lot of time. This time we did, so we explored. The scenery along the Colorado River northeast of Moab was very cool. We spent a morning driving Highway 128, aka River Road, through this very scenic canyon.

River Road

Years ago, during a trip to Mesa Verde National Park, I saw Shiprock off in the distance. During my previous trip to Moab/Monument Valley, I saw Shiprock from the road, again off in the distance. During a flight from some trip whose details I no longer remember, our course took us right over the Navajo lands on which Shiprock sits and I saw it through my airplane window. I’ve wanted to get a better look for a while. So, during our drive to Albuquerque from Moab I took a route that gave me the opportunity to get a good look. Here it is.

Shiprock

After this detour, we went on to Albuquerque, which I describe in another post.

My wife and I spent 3 days in Albuquerque to see the 2021 Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. There were no evening events while we were there, only morning events.

Each morning we arrived at about 4:15. That’s right, 4:15 AM. Why so early? Parking. We wanted to get there before nearby parking filled up. We wandered the field, in the dark, every morning, and hung around the area where the dawn patrol was setting up. The dawn patrol is 6-8 balloons that go up just as the first light of dawn appears. It was very cool to be able to watch the whole launch process.

First, the crew lays the balloon out. Then they put the basket out and test fire the burners. Or they swap that order. The crew places the basket on its side, attaches the lines from the balloon to the basket, and they attach a tether from the balloon to a heavy object (like the crew van). Then the crew members use high-powered fans to blow cold air into the envelope while crew members hold the throat open. This cold inflation phase mostly inflates the balloon as it lies on the ground.

Crew Lays the Balloon Out

After cold inflation, the pilot will stand the balloon up by shutting the fans down and lighting the burners to heat the air in the balloon. During this process, the balloon will completely inflate and leave the ground, forcing the basket into an upright orientation. Some crew members may hop onto the basket to add weight to keep the balloon from lifting off.

Standing the balloon up

After stand-up, passengers board. At the fiesta, there were officials, “zebras”, people dressed in black and white stripes who cleared balloons for launch. When the zebra whistles, the balloon pilot will detach the tether, light the burner, and the balloon launches, immediately drifting in the wind.

We got to see this process several times, up close. So close in fact that we could feel the heat from the burners.

Of course I wanted to shoot the event. I did a lot of Internet research to figure out what to shoot, what camera settings to use, what gear to use. In the dark, I used my phone for close up shots and video. At dawn, I switched to my DSLR. On day one, I used a 24-70mm f2.8 lens. This was great for action on the ground but not enough reach for action in the air. On day 2, I took a balloon ride. I used my 70-200mm f2.8 lens. This was perfect because it had enough reach for shots of other balloons in the air and of subjects on the ground. On day 3, I used the 70-200 again. On this day, we checked the wind, went to the downwind side of the field, and I shot the balloons as they floated overhead. This was special shape day. I shot a lot as all sorts of strange balloons floated by.

My balloon ride was awesome. We launched just before sunrise. The balloon did not climb very quickly and it looked like we were going to hit some vans that were parked on the field. The ground crew held onto the rope to slow our drift while the pilot kept the burners going and we eventually cleared the vans by a few feet. Then we drifted southwest and climbed, eventually reversing direction to the north as we climbed into winds that were blowing in the opposite direction (the so-called Albuquerque box). We drifted almost as far north as the northernmost part of the launch field, then descended into winds heading south again. Eventually we came down low and the pilot looked for a spot to set down. We were over houses and businesses. There weren’t a lot of open areas. We missed several good spots (sport fields, parking lots) because they were not on our path and had to climb again. Finally the pilot found a spot and went for it. We bounced off a bush/tree, brushed a street sign, barely missed a mailbox, and set down on a street. Then the wind pushed the envelope and we left the ground again and set down again. And that happened again. And the basket tipped over. And the pilot jumped out and asked me to help him keep the envelope from landing on a chain link fence. I tried, but the envelope came down on me and I had to walk from under it by pushing it up over my head, getting pretty dusty in the process. Finally I got out from under the envelope and saw that it had landed on the fence. I carefully pulled it off the fence, a little at a time. The other side of the fence was a fire station lot. The firemen came out and helped to get the envelope off the fence. And so our landing had a little excitement. The chase crew then showed up, we had champagne, the crew packed the balloon, and we rode back to the fiesta grounds.

So what did I learn?

My phone camera did a great job, especially in the dark.
Balloons are huge. Shots on the ground really need a wide angle lens. My 24-70mm was good for shots of action on the ground.
Walking among the crews as they set up for launch, was a lot of fun. Seeing balloons launch all around me was also fun. There was no way I could turn and not have a balloon setting up or launching.
Shots of balloons in the air were fun to take. The compositions that I liked were:

Straight up into the throat with the burner lit. Actually anything with the burner lit.
People in the basket during launch.
Groups of balloons together.
Balloons in profile.